The weblog of Irfan Yusuf, bush lawyer, humorist and award-winning author, once a small-c conservative but now politically left right out. His often irreverent take on things appears in some newspapers in Australia and New Zealand and online. His comic memoir "Once Were Radicals: My Years As A Teenage Islamo-fascist" was published in May 2009 and won the Iremonger Award for Public Issues Writing.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Time to Act

I was told by the 4 Corners crew that there would be a rather large turnout of people prepared to go on the record with their allegations against the Party. I never expected it would be this big.

To get a former federal leader, a former state president, a former regional president, a former country representative, former staffers and even some self-confessed branch stackers is quite a turnout!

The allegations are serious and deserve scrutiny by the Party hierarchy. It will be difficult for Peter Debnam to stand up and accuse the ALP of ethnic branch stacking when members of both his Parliamentary and Organisational wings have confessed to and/or are involved in the same activity.

Worse still are the allegations of vote-rigging. And branch stacking. And God-knows what else.

The NSW Party needs to deal with these issues urgently. Its participation in democratic electoral processes cannot be taken seriously if its own house isn’t in order. These allegations cannot just be dismissed as the rantings of disgruntled former members or failed preselection candidates. They have been made by people who seriously care about the Party and who don’t want it to be railroaded by narrow sectarian agendas and by fringe special interest groups.

12 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Leave me alone. You insignificant twat. The only reason 4 Corners contacted you is because Nick Korovin and Ken Henderson told them that you would dump shit on David Clarke. Are you trying to make us believe that you have never been involved in branch stacking or vote rigging? I know you haven't organised these things because you are too imcompetent to organise a root in abrothel(or anywhere else for that matter), but I know first hand that you have been a pawn.Nay, a lobster, you're too big to be a prawn. Smell like a rotten one though

Peter Debnam won preselection by beating factional candidates, and as a result he underestimates factionalism.

There are three factors standing between Debnam and government: easy to define, hard to tackle (impossible for Debnam I think, but you know how negative I am):

1. Debnam must realise that factionalism is the most significant issue he can do something about. Sure, as opposition leader he has to wait for the government to stuff up, but a Liberal leader who demonstrates that he can perform the necessary but bloody internal surgery to remove Clarke can take Iemma with no worries.

2. Bill Heffernan and other feds who believe that things have to keep being swept under the carpet to avoid a few bad headlines in the Tele have to back off and allow some blood to be spilt.

3. There has to be a pragmatic realisation that Clarke's agenda is pure electoral poison. You made an important point on 15/6 regarding economic management, but the same is true of social policy. I'm not sure that you and Henderson and other rightwingers are there yet Irfan, but until you can actually make the case that issues like abortion or gays won't achieve the big swings necessary to win government, then any momentum for change will get bogged down in spats about who said what when etc.

The 4 corners piece was a veritable who's who of political failure. Michael Osbourne, the weak State president that reigned over the most tumultuous factional infighting the party has ever seen, John Hewson, the worst Federal Liberal Leader since McMahon, Ken Henderson the best example of political suicide in the known universe, Fran Quinn, a good lady with a nasty stubborn streak, Michael Darby, say no more, Betty Mihic, happy to hand over ballot papers when Clarke sent Henderson to pick them up, John Hyde-Page, LOL, Irfan Yusuf, the person who a former State Director dubbed Irfan Useless and who by the way never held any factional sway or influence and never even controlled a single branch, and then we have Andrew Elder chiming in, a more insipid, useless left wing hack has never disgraced the party throughout its history. It makes me laugh that so many people who were happy to have the right take power when the were on side with Clarke are now so horrified by their own actions now that there is no payoff for them. Shame on all of you. You have all done infinitely more damage to the party than Clarke, Campbell or Hawke ever have. Even the likes of Witheridge and Photios are less damaging than you lot. Shame on you all.

Lets face it, when the party and its factional system dumped the Smelly Pakistani, he went on a vengeful rampage that had the impact of a pop gun. He's just reloaded with a bigger cork.

Well not sure of the situation really in NSW - only saw the 4 Traumas program to know a (biased) bit about it, but can't you see too that there's also a determined push by the secular left of the Party to stack out stuff too?

It's fine for Hewson et al to crow about how the "religious extremists" are taking over the party, but doesn't he realise that secular humanism is also a religion and just as pushy as Clarke's Christian mob might be?

His business is not doing too well due to interest rates rises & now he is back to his old habits smoking funny weeds & writing funny e-mails & articles & gone back to driving cars in Canberra when tired & emotional (see some Canberra Local Court reports its hilarious)